The Malawi Project, Inc.

     "Education, then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of the conditions of men, the balance-wheel of the social machinery."

Horace Mann (1796-1859)
U.S. educator

    It is no secret that the key to the future for many of the emerging nations of Africa is to be found in education. Whether you are in the financial district of Manhattan near Wall Street, or the Ivy League halls of Oxford University on Wellington Square; whether you are on Takandas Kataria Marq in old Bombay (Mumbai), or near the Grand Hotel on Zhongshan North Roa in Taipei, Taiwan; or whether you are walking along highway M-1 near Mponela, Malawi or down a dusty path near the banks of the Zambezi in northern Zimbabwe, education is important. Whether it is the need for knowledge in agriculture, medicine, the teaching profession, or driving a truck across country education will help to insure your future.

    For the people of the Africa’s sub-Sahara the communication link with the outside world is fast imbedding itself in their future. Cell phones and satellite emails now reach into quiet villages; television with its picture stories of the outside world entice the youth of the world with a window into other cultures their parents never knew existed; and the internet and modern transportation are making opportunities for global contact, communication, and progress within reach where a generation ago only a great void of emptiness and silence existed.

    The Malawi Project has committed itself to bringing educational resources to this tiny nation in order to help its people maintain the present and cope with a changing future. Whether in the form of AIDS education seminars, conference gatherings to discuss the moral and religious climate of the nation, or in instructional seminars for medical personnel the Project has supplied teachers and teaching materials for a number of years. "Without education the nation of Malawi will continue to repeat the mistakes of their past" says Richard Stephens, Director of the Malawi Project.  "Education is their way out. With the worldwide web and email opening the nation to the outside world and with the influx of travel both into Malawi and out in the world around them the opportunities for this peaceful, kind nation of people to excel."

     

    Two examples of this disparity are seen in the fact in 2004 the Republic of Ireland spent an average of $3,226.00 for each of its citizens for healthcare. During that same 12 month period Malawi was only able to spend $14.00 per person.

    "The cost to get these trailers from the U.S. to Malawi is extremely high," reports Suzi Stephens, Medical Director of the Malawi Project. "For instance, the cost for these two trailers was approximately $12,000.00 each. But the contents of these two trailers totaled $768,710.00 for the two. Another way to put it is that a $12,000.00 contribution to help this third world nation can deliver over $380,000.00 in critically needed goods. This is one unimaginable expansion of value to our contributors. It happens because of a vast network of contributors who make these goods possible to the Project without any cost."

 

Suzi concludes, "The pictures taken in this small rural hospital of one of the bathtubs and in the surgery center reflect the reason we are in Malawi, and the reason it is critical that we continue to get medical supplies into  the country. They need us and they need to resources that we can deliver to their badly broken health-care system."

      Early in the year it was recognized that large numbers of African born residents were migrating to the U.S., and in particular to the Indianapolis, Indiana area. They were often struggling with the same problems they faced in Africa in the comparison of traditional vrs. western medical procedures. One group of Africans sought to address these issues. In 2007 the Malawi Project began providing medical supplies and equipment to help sustain the health initiative of the group. According to Suzi Stephens, the Medical Director for the Malawi Project, "It does not seem to make sense to us to travel all the way to Africa to help the people there when we find new residents in our own neighborhood struggling with medical problems unique to their African cultures. We are looking for ways to assist these diverse cultures wherever we find them in the world."

    The African Community International, Inc. (The African Center) was established by concerned citizens to serve socially and economically disadvantaged and the underserved African-born population living in Indiana, including children, teenagers, young adults and seniors. The organization is a not-for-profit 501 (c) 3 recognized under the Internal Revenue Service exempt code.
 
    Services provided at the African Center are grouped into five areas: (1) Health, HIV/AIDS and Human Services; (2) Social Services and Advocacy; (3) Skills, Literacy, Leadership Training and Development; (4) Arts and Culture; (5) Community Integration Services.  Currently the organization provides integrated services to African-born residents from 34 African nations, representing over 75 cultures with six distinct language differentials.

    The African Center’s primary health care initiative provides solutions to healthcare challenges for the target population. The organization has established a free medical clinic for its clients.

    In the first picture Suzi Stephens is seen with Mr. Shola  Ajiboye, the Director for the Center and Doctor Dr. Esha Achimugu as they discuss plans for the Project’s future involvement in the medical needs of the African Center. In the second picture Doctor Achimugu and Mr. Ajiboye are surprised to learn that Murry Dixon, the Director of Shipping for the Malawi Project, was actually born in Nigeria, West Africa to a missionary family that has served in Africa for over 40 years.

One Can Little Imagine the Scene

    One can little imagine what it must be like for a mother to spend 17 years of her life carrying her child on her back everywhere she goes. Yet this is what happened to Afilo Mkwapatira’s mother. Afilo is 17 years old and comes from the Kuiza Village in the Dedza District * of central Malawi. He and his mother live within the jurisdiction of tribal chief Tambalo. Afilo has never been able to move about by himself, nor has he ever been able to speak.

    Then through the assistance of the Free Wheelchair Mission in Irvine, California and the Malawi Project in Indianapolis, Indiana; Afilo was able to receive a wheelchair.

    Even today Afilo cannot speak but his mother is able to speak for him. "Today is a day of deliverance. For the past 17 years I have carried Afilo on my back. I have been looking for this day to come to my life. God indeed has heard my crying and prayers. I will now be able to do work at home, and support my son and my other children."

* The Dedza District of Malawi is the district or state just south of the capital of Lilongwe. It straddles the main highway through the nation, highway M-1 and is the home of the famous cave drawings that date back into the 1500’s. Its population in 2001 was 526,874. In 2008 the population is estimated to be 669,511. Like most of the countryside of Malawi there are almost no paved roads, no electricity, no telephones, scarce healthcare, and a struggling educational system. With an income of little more than $100.00 a year the population of the countryside can offer little help to the federal government in the way of tax revenue, and thus the federal government is helpless to be able to assist the village people in their basic needs. Although a federal governmental system is in place much of the governance of the village areas is still in the hands of the ancient tribal system of government.